Apr 23, 2020
3 min read
Digital. Season 2, Episode 15. The Top 10 Travel News Stories of the Week: Day In, Day Out
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Focus on COVID-19
- After borrowing $4Bon the capital markets, Booking Holdings asked for government support to pay salaries (that, according to The Volkskrant, are on average, €47,000 a year/employee), but the loan may not be enough, and, according to an internal memo sent to employees, layoffs will be “probable.”
- To survive the pandemic, Expedia is about to sell a $1B stake to the equity firms Apollo Global Management and Silver Lake Partners.
- Emirates, together with Dubai Health Authority is conducting on-site rapid COVID-19 on his passengers before departing. The blood tests used are able to give results within 10 minutes.
- In an email sent to hoteliers, HotelBeds has again extended the dates of force majeure to 15 May.
- According to a recent IATA survey, 60% of travelers will return to travel within one to two months of containment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- According to research by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), as of 6 April, “96% of all worldwide destinations have introduced travel restrictions in response to the pandemic.” You can download the full report here.
- Did They Help? is a website that “tracks companies and public figures in terms of their actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Users can search the site for a brand or celebrity to see a positive or negative score of their behavior. Results include links to the specific actions or policies that contributed to a particular score, such as offering paid sick leave to employees (or not), donating medical supplies, or supporting food banks.” The website is accessible here.
In Other News
- Google is rumored to be working on a Visa-based smart debit card similar to the Apple card.
- “When will be a good time to consider reactivating my campaigns?” Mirai asks. According to the Spanish agency, the period from March 15 to 31 saw a -88% decline in impressions YoY, -63% in CPC, -41% in conversion, but a +5% increase in CTR. As Mirai points out, however, the average CPA for these campaigns is still around 6.5%, one-third of OTAs commissions. The original piece can be read here.
- Stripe raised $600M and reached over $3B valuation. An IPO can be not imminent, due to the situation, yet it’s fair to say that Stripe, focusing on e-commerce, is actually benefiting from the lockdown.
